[H]ardNews - Tech Ed.

90nm Celeron In Q2:

Intel plans to roll out three new 90nm Celeron processors and two new chipsets for the entry-level market in the second quarter, local motherboard makers said. The three new Celeron processors, with a Prescott core, support a 533MHz FSB speed and 256K cache memory. Prices of these processors, depending on the speed, are as low as US$79. The prices are comparable with those of existing 0.13-micron Celeron processors, but should be more cost-effective since the new chips will be made on 12-inch wafers.

Xbox II CPU Taped Out:

"It’ll be built on a 65-nanometer process,” a source confirmed to TeamXbox. “IBM has already taped out experimental samples at its East Fishkill fab but it will take between 12 to 18 months for them to deliver commercial parts. Anyway, they’re way ahead of Intel.” There are countless stories as to why Microsoft decided to drop Intel in favor of IBM. But sometimes, it just could be as straightforward as Jodie Foster claims in the movie Contact, "The simplest hypothesis is most likely to be true."

Bar Code Patents Invalidated:

A federal district court judge invalidated patents on bar code products--in a victory over one of the technology's most prolific patent collectors. Philip Pro, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, on Jan. 23 ruled against defendant the Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, calling the claims of 14 of its patents--some of which dated from the 1950s--invalid and unenforceable.

Shining LED Market:

The new Audi A8 6.0's headlights feature daylight running lights based on them. And 12,000 of them illuminate the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. They are white LEDs, full-spectrum versions of the colored light-emitting pinpoints commercialized in recent decades as ubiquitous indicator lights. But if bigger, brighter white LEDs can be manufactured more economically, they could challenge the 100-year-old incandescent bulb in the multibillion-dollar lighting market. LEDs last for years, are tough and use less energy than conventional light bulbs.